Never Stop Singing

It's Melody's birthday, and she's excited to turn "double digits" on January 1, 1964. She's also eager to answer her pastor's New Year's challenge and make her community better. Melody decides to fix up the neighborhood playground and plant a garden. Her friends pitch in to help, but after a series of setbacks, Melody realizes that being a leader isn't easy. But it is easy to say yes when her brother asks her to sing backup for him. Melody gets to go to the Motown music studio and add her voice to a real record! Can she find a way to make her voice stand out in the studio and in her community?

Denise Lewis Patrick grew up in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Lots of relatives lived nearby, so there was always someone watching out for her and always someone to play with. Every week, Denise and her brother went to the library, where she would read and dream in the children's room overlooking a wonderful river. She wrote and illustrated her first book when she was ten--she glued yellow cloth to cardboard for the cover and sewed the pages together on her mom's sewing machine. Today, Denise lives in New Jersey, where she still loves to read, write, and make books.